2012 - 2013 Toyota Avalon

Comments

I would strongly suggest you find the nearest Michelin tire dealer and have the manager ride with you to experience the problem and at the very least get the car up on a lift and inspect the tires and suspension. By the way the correct inflation pressure is 33lbs and I can see no benefit from running more. Good luck and please let us know how it turns out.

If your car is running on Michelin tires get used to this vibration/roughness whenever you are driving on anything but a glass smooth surface. That's because the sidewalls on the Michelins have stiff belts that do not absorb impact or energy from the road and transmit the vibration into the chasis of the car. I recently installed Michelin Primacy MXV4 tires on my 2009 Toyota Avalon and the car's ride deteriorated noticeably. I now feel the same vibration you do plus road cracks, expansion joints, and any roughness in the pavement that I never felt before. The same thing happened to my son's Toyota Sienna after he installed new Michelin Energy Saver tires. I have lowered my tire pressure a bit with some minor improvement in ride quality. Consumer Reports rated these tires at the top in most categories and say the tires provide a smooth and quiet ride. Based on my experience, I don't know how they could come to that conclusion.

I would note and this may be of interest to all of you, that my headliner had a small ding when I bought the car and the dealer promised (in writing) to fix it. The ding was that it was hanging down a little in the middle of the back window.

For the fix, the dealer sent it to an interior shop who glued it to the window in the middle. (Now, it goes up in the middle instead of down)

Because it is now in contact with the window glass in the middle, the parts that aren't vibrate against the glass enough to be rather annoying up front. The pulling up in the middle also caused "folds" halfway out on either side. I went back to the dealer, they agreed I needed a new headliner. Toyota however has recognized this problem and had done a re-design on teh part and it will be available in January.

If you want to find out about headliner issues and about tire/ride issues, go to the ToyotaNation forum for the 4th Generation Avalon. Lots of owners have had either or both issues, and the discussions have been very extensive. Touch wood, I haven't experienced any headliner problems but although it doesn't bother me a lot, the ride on the Michelin Primacy XV4s is a lot like the ride that was described earlier on this thread. My biggest issue is with the unnatutural boominess emanating from the JBL audio system, which makes listening to classical music less than 100% enjoyable. But all things considered, after 3,700 miles I continue to think it's a fabulous car. (2013 TAH w/o tech package, crimson mica w' light gray interior; 2/13 build date).

I have a '13 TAL (gas) and I think I know what you are trying to explain, except I would not describe it as a vibration but more noise entering the cabin from the suspension when going over rough bumps. When you combine the noise along with the jostling you have something close to a vibration.

Why don't you go to the dealer and drive a car identical to yours and I bet it rides the same.

Just so everyone knows what a rough ride it is, every couple of hundred miles I have to close my sunroof shade. It gradually opens on its own (maybe a half inch) from all the shaking going on inside the cabin. I know its time to close the shade when I see sunlight coming in.

Funny now the Michelin tires now have the bad ride. Previous posts in this thread had the Michelins being the good guys and the Bridgestone Turanza EL 400's having the bad ride. I'm waiting to get at least 10K miles on my TAH's Bridgestones before I replace them with Primacy H rated tires. I'm hoping the H rated Primacy tires might have better road isolation than the V speed tires.

Supposedly, the Michelin Primacy H rated tires give a softer ride than V rated tires because they have fewer or less rigid belts in the sidewall. Otherwise they are identical and have exactly the same tread wear rating. Good luck with this move. Pls let us know if you do notice a difference.

Interesting observation. Not sure it holds true in all cases. One of the smoothest riding cars I ever owned (Lexus) would gradually open the sunshade while I had a Camry that did not. The Lexus had,drum roll please, Michelins on it. T rated I might add.

I bought a 2011 Avalon LTD this summer and drove it for the first time after dark the other night. The bright light from the navigation system blinds me it is so bright. It really does effect my vision. Is there anyway to turn the light down where it isn't so bright?

Not sure if this will help you but for the 2013 Avalon Ltd, the owners manual says that "Depending on the position of the headlight switch, the screen changes to day or night mode." So when the headlight switch is in the auto mode or turned on, unless you'fe overriddend it to have the day mode for the screen on all the time, when the headlights come on automatically, the screen goes from the day mode (the very white and bright background, that your rightly describe as too bright at night) to a much-esire-to-live-with black background with light or white characters. The manual also gives info about adjusting the screen's contrast and brightness. But this is for the 2013 Avalon Ltd. You should check your owners manual for the 2011.

I don't know anything about leases but I suspect that is a good way to get screwed. Too many places to hide dealers' profit. That is why I did not trade in my old car. They gave me competitive internet pricing but planned to make up the difference on my trade in. Which I still have... The best time to get a deal is on the very last day of the very last month in the quarter. Went in on May 31st and they practically fell all over themselves giving me a deal. Went in with truecar pricing(Costco) and had also pre-arranged loan pricing. Kept saying I should come back after I got the loan finalized with the price and they beat the credit union loan. (PenFed) Got 6 year loan at 1.25%. Thank you Ben Bernanke/Penfed. (mind you, my credit is good.) I had actually not planned to buy that day but they were really desperate to sell. Sept 30, end of the quarter is a nice quiet Monday. Smells like opportunity to me. Pray for poor weather. I should add that my loan to own the vehicle is 550/month and its a limited Avalon with the tech package so 480 for 36000 miles on a less pricey model seems high by comparison. (had to put down 15%).

I purchased the XLE Touring on Labor Day, and I immediately noticed the shaking as soon as we got on the road for the test drive. The salesman said the service guys were off for the holiday, but I could bring the car in. My wife test drove the car separately from me, as we had our small daughter with us. The first thing she said when she got out was that the tires needed balancing. I purchased the car that day, and I really do like it.

I brought the car in this week to let the service guys check it out. They said they took it out for a ride and that they couldn't find anything wrong with it. I was asked if I had gotten out of a previous Avalon. I said no, that I got out of a 2012 V6 SE Camry, which I could feel just about every bump on the road with the low profile tires. I told him that the ride is much smoother on the whole, but that the shaking sounded like the tires weren't balanced correctly. The tires are Bridgestone, btw.

I'm curious now if if this is just the way it's going to be, or if something is not correct with the ride. I do really enjoy the vehicle, but I want to nip this in the bud if there's an actual problem.

What you are experiencing is typical of Avalon's with Bridgestone tires. My Avalon has Michelins inflated to 31psi COLD and I am happy with the ride and my previous car was a 2009 Camry Hybrid. Suggest you read the numerous posts on this matter. By the way the ride softens a bit as the miles are accumulated. Also suggest you visit a reputable tire dealer for his input. First thing he will probably do is check your tire pressure something Toyota dealers obviously are not doing very often. Would not be surprised if your tires have close to 40psi in them. That would be typical. For the smoothest ride try going with 31psi COLD.

I got a call from my dealer today and they said the new headliner, Front back panel and steering wheel is now in so my 2013 Avalon Limited w/Tech package will be going into the shop next week to get repaired. I had the headliner issue from day one and did not realize it until I read about it in the forum. Toyota knew about it but kept letting the dealer sell the car with the problem. Their temp fix for the headliner was to install buttons to hold up the liner. I refused this fix since that is not what I brought or want in a car. I talked to the dealer, District and Corp, since I only owned the car for a week and did not expect to have the car rebuilt. I am hoping the fixes get it back to a new state, I love the car and the technology and compared to other cars in this class the price is really competitive, The problem I see is the quality seems to be missing.

Latest from CR on the 2013 Avalon's Ride. Still not good. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2013/09/toyota-avalon-tire-swap/index.ht- - m I'm still thinking of switching out the stock 17 inch Bridgstones on my TAH Limiterd for a set of H rated Michelin MXV4 early next year. The Lexus 350 ride is rated a little better than the Avalon. I wonder if you put both cars up on a rack how much difference there is between the 2 car's suspensions.

If you own a high-trim Avalon, it probably wouldnÕt pay to switch to taller-sidewall tires. But if you want a nice big car with a great ride, think about getting the latest Chevrolet Impala. ItÕs everything the Avalon ought to be and more.

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These aren't facts or other folks thoughts on the Avalon, I'm just trolling

...if you want a nice big car with a great ride, think about getting the latest Chevrolet Impala. It's everything the Avalon ought to be and more.

I agree 100%. The LTZ trim level is pricey but it is a great example of what a large American can be. And without hyperbole, the ride handling dynamics in the Impala is even better than a LS 460 or some of the high-end German models.

It is what it is and most of the time a pretty sweet ride. Especially on the freeway. It could be a lot better on lousy roads like Lombard and Van Ness avenues in San Francisco. The TAH gets an average of 14 more mpg than the Impala V6 which only gets 14 mpg city.

That is not a view shared by folks in the tire business. They will gladly boor you with stories about customers who went from a 60 or 55 series tire to a lower profile tire and where shocked how bad the ride comfort was effected. I drove the new Impala with 19's on it and will agree it handled bad sections of road better than the Avalon with 18" Michlins but the over all handling of the Avalon was more to my liking. More engaging car to drive with better turn in response and less initial roll in the corners at speed. Now if you could put the best of both cars in one package now that would be something special. For now give me the Avalon for its combination of ride and handling on 98% of the roads I drive on.